Small Business Blog

Posts Tagged ‘planning’

In any business operation, planning is an important and essential procedure. It goes the same when running an online business. A proper business plan establishes your business goals and eliminates unnecessary activity which is not related to your business goals. It gives you a clear view of what your business wants to achieve within a given timeframe.

Nonetheless, when a business goes according to plan there are many advantages such as:

1. You are focus only on the activities that are most likely to achieve your goals.

2. You know how to allocate your resources (staffing, funding etc)

3. You are able make correction and adjustments, and get back on track if necessary.

When writing an online business plan, the approach can be slightly different from a traditional business planning though the objective can be the same. An online business runs 24 hrs a day 7 days a week and a traditional business probably opens from 8 to 5 and closes on every Sunday, thus planning will not be the same for the 2 types of business.

Here is a step by step guide:

1. You need to identify the products or services that you are selling and understand how your products or services can satisfy the needs of your customer.

2. You need to identify your target market and understand why they are going to purchase your products or services.

3. What ways are you going to reach to your targeted market? Unlike the traditional business, online business core marketing plan is traffic generation. There are various methods of traffic generation. Some methods are free and some requires some money.

Free methods

a.Article Marketing
b.Forum Marketing
c.Blogging

Paid Methods:
a.Ezine advertising
b.Pay per click advertising

Besides these various methods, you need to develop a website that is search engine friendly. This is to optimize your website when users do a search on search engines and get rank well in search engine.

4. Having a good customer services is an important factor when running an online business. Very often, most people think that online business does not require any verbal communication except by communicating through emails. Yes, I agree that the main form of communication is largely through emails however phone calls are equally important.
Make sure that you have a team that is attending to customer emails and phone calls. Being able to relate to customer is very important, it keeps the customer coming back.

Having a proper plan can ensure that your online business runs smoothly. Everything is at your fingertips, you know which step to make and which not to be make. So if you want to achieve online or offline business success, plan well! When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

When starting a business on the internet, it is natural to turn first to web-based tools for marketing purposes. Asking customers to click on a relevant link is always easier than asking someone to read a site name on a billboard or print ad and remember to visit the site later. Detail how you will use these web-based tools or others in your marketing plan rather than focusing on traditional advertising and marketing methods to show your understanding of the medium you are in.

SEO and SEM
Any internet business worth their salt must know the meaning of and difference between SEO and SEM. Both recognize that search engines, especially Google, are the gateway to the internet for most users. SEO (search engine optimization) refers to gearing your website towards appearing higher and higher in what is called the “organic” results for internet searches on keywords you desire. SEM (search engine marketing), also called PPC (pay-per-click), refers to entering into Google Adwords’ automated auction for keywords, and bidding to appear in sponsored ads for those words. You only pay the bid price if searchers click on your ad, visiting your site. Having a content-rich website with relevant information and a high number of incoming links from other websites will increase your changes of success with both SEO and SEM.

Blogs

The blogosphere increasingly rules information on the internet. Readers go to these websites, which range from professionally-run to homegrown, to find out the news they aren’t hearing through traditional outlets and to get news faster within niches. Search out blogs that focus on your business’s niche and plan a strategy for how to get noticed by these bloggers, whether it starts with commenting on their posts, asking to be a guest writer, or e-mailing the writers directly to ask them to pass on news about your site. Your public relations blog campaign should be taken as seriously as a PR campaign for traditional media for an internet business.

 The New Basics of Business

With unemployment continuing to rise, home prices falling due to a surplus of inventory, and small business lending at a standstill, this recession doesn’t seem likely to end soon.  The recovery will be slow and Americans will certainly not enjoy the prosperity of a few years ago for a long time to come.  It’s not just economists who think this way.  ”Half the population in [a] new ABC News poll  thinks both job security and retirement prospects in the years ahead will remain worse than their pre-recession levels.”  (“Poll: Less Job Security is the ‘New Normal,’” ABC News The Polling Unit, June 15, 2009, analysis by Gary Langer) This confidence, or lack thereof, is an integral part of an economic cycle.  The analysis goes on to say, “Those diminished expectations – plus the pain of the current downturn – are fueling retrenchments in consumer behavior that could fundamentally reshape the economy.”   

Basically, consumers are hunkering down to limit spending, save money, conserve resources, and change the way they’ve been living.  The major influence on the health of an economy is the psychological state of its consumers.  When there exists a broad belief that spending beyond necessity is unwise, people will change their habits and as a result, some businesses will have to close their doors.  The economy is molting into a new, leaner animal.  Rather than react in desperation to avoid doom, firms should interact with the current situation with innovative and forward thinking actions.  

No matter the economic slump, increasing profits is typically the number one goal of any business.  To ensure profitability, a company must demonstrate a competitive advantage over others in its industry, either by cost leadership (same product as competitors, lower price), differentiation (same price, better services), or focusing on an exclusive segment of the market (niche).  For long term maintenance of competitive advantage, a firm must ensure that its methods cannot be duplicated or imitated.  This requires constant analysis and regular reinvention of competitive strategies.  

A recession is the optimal time to reinvent competitive advantage because the pressure of a feeble economy will separate the strong businesses from the weak ones, with the weak falling out of the game entirely.  Your business will be strong if you have a plan of action based upon a little industry research, an analysis of what you have and what you want, and continuous monitoring of the results of your plan.  This kind of innovation is not only a necessity right now, but it is an opportunity to improve the quality and efficiency in the way you do business.  

The three basic actions for growing a business in any economic climate are: improve efficiency (maintain output while reducing inputs, such as time and money); increase volume (produce more in order to spread fixed costs); reorganize the business (change goals, methods and/or philosophy).  If you plan to implement one of these, you may as well plan to implement them all.  By focusing on one of the above strategies, you will find a ripple effect that causes a need to address the others.  This is a good thing.  

Right now, growth may sound like an unattainable goal as businesses are grappling just to survive, but hey, “flat is the new up.”  If a business can keep its doors open and lights on, then it’s doing better than many others.  But lights and open doors don’t make sales, so making changes that attract business is in a sense, striving for growth.  It won’t be this tough forever, but for now, putting some growth strategies into action may be what keeps your business alive, if not thriving.  

 

Every Business Needs a Plan  

Without a plan, there is little hope for growth, let alone survival.  As my small business development counselor, Terry Chambers says, “If it’s not written, it’s not real.”  That doesn’t mean it’s unchangeable, but it does show that you mean business.  In order to accomplish your strategies of improving efficiency, increasing volume, and reorganizing your business, you’ve got to examine what you have, what you want, and how you plan to get there.  

Sometimes it takes a significant event or change in existing conditions for a business to create a written plan.  I think it’s safe to say that the state of the economy is a significant change that should prompt business owners to alter the way they’ve been doing things.  If you already have a business plan, it’s time to get it out and revise it.  Make sure your plan includes answers to these questions:  

What do I want to accomplish? What do I have to work with? How have I done in the past? What might I do in the future? What will I do now? How will I do it? Is it working? 

 

A business plan can be used as a vehicle for accurate communication among principals, managers, staff, and outside sources of capital.  It will also help to identify, isolate, and solve problems in your structure, operations, and/or finances.  Along with these advantages, a business plan captures a view of the big picture, which makes a company better prepared to take advantage of opportunities for improvement and/or handle crises.  

Essentially, the three main elements of a business plan are strategies, actions, and financial projections.  In order to cover all of the principle elements, you will engage in other types of planning:   

Marketing plan: Includes analysis of your target market (your customers), as well as the competition within that market, and your marketing strategy.  This plan is usually part of the strategic plan. Strategic plan: Asses the impact of the business environment (STEER analysis: Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors).  Includes company vision, mission, goals and objectives, in order to plan three to five years into the future. Operational planning: With a focus on short-term actions, this type of planning usually results in a detailed annual work plan, of which the business plan contains only the highlights. Financial planning: The numerical results of strategic and operational planning are shown in budgets and projected financial statements; these are always included in the business plan in their entirety. Feasibility study: Before you decide to start a business or add something new to an existing business, you should perform an analysis of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis), as well as its financial feasibility, then asses its potential sales volume.

 

The process of business planning does not end when the written plan is complete.  Business planning is a cycle, which includes the following steps:  

Put your plan of action in writing. Make decisions and take action based upon the plan. Gauge the results of those actions against your expectations. Explore the differences, whether positive or negative, and write it all down. Modify your business plan based upon what you learned.

 

President of Palo Alto Software, Inc. and business planning coach Tim Berry says, “Planning isn’t complete unless you’ve planned for review.”  Review is the fundamental action that initiates putting your business plan into action.  In his blog at Entrepreneur.com, Berry lists some insightful strategies to making good use of your plan review, a few of which include keeping the review meetings as brief as possible and an emphasis on metrics as key to effective review.

Write your business plan in sessions.  Don’t think that you have to produce a business plan before go to bed tonight or you won’t be able to open your doors for business tomorrow.  I like Tim Berry’s Plan-As-You-Go method of business planning.  The practice of planning is an effective way to really get to know your business and you might end up discovering some important things about your company and about yourself.

There are various strategies and outlines available that will guide you in choosing the appropriate format for your business plan.  Check out the collection of sample business plans for a variety of businesses at Bplans dot com.  Every business is different, therefore every business plan will be structured differently, but for the purposes of this white paper, I will present the fundamental elements that make up strategic, operational, and financial planning.  Here is a basic outline, thanks to NxLevel® for Entrepreneurs (2005, Fourth Edition): 

 

             General Business Plan Outline  

                Cover Page  

                Table of Contents  

                Executive Summary  

                Mission, Goals and Objectives  

                                General Description of the Business  

                                                Stage of Development  

                                                General Growth Plan Description  

                                Mission Statement  

                                Goals and Objectives  

                Background Information  

                                The Industry  

                                                Background Industry Information  

                                                Current/Future Industry Trends  

                                The Business Fit in the Industry  

                Organizational Matters  

                                Business Structure, Management and Personnel  

                                                Management  

                                                Personnel  

                                                Outside Services/Advisors  

                                                Risk Management  

                                Operating Controls  

                                                Recordkeeping Functions  

                                                Other Operational Controls  

                The Marketing Plan  

                                Products/Services  

                                                Products/Services Description  

                                                Features/Benefits  

                                                Life Cycles/Seasonality  

                                                Growth Description (Future Products/Services)  

                                The Market Analysis  

                                                Customer Analysis  

                                                Competitive Analysis  

                                                Market Potential  

                                                                Current Trade Area Description  

                                                                Market Size and Trends  

                                                                Sales Volume Potential (Current and Growth)  

                                Marketing Strategies  

                                                Location/Distribution  

                                                Price/Quality Relationship  

                                                Promotional Strategies  

                                                                Packaging  

                                                                Public Relations  

                                                                Advertising  

                                                                Customer Service  

                The Financial Plan  

                                Financial Worksheets  

                                                Salaries/Wages & Benefits  

                                                Outside Services  

                                                Insurance  

                                                Advertising Budget  

                                                Occupancy Expense  

                                                Sales Forecasts  

                                                Cost of Projected Product Units  

                                                Fixed Assets  

                                                Growth (or Start-Up) Expenses  

                                                Miscellaneous Expenses  

                                Cash Flow Projections  

                                                Break-Even Analysis  

                                                Monthly Cash Flow Projections – First Year  

                                                Notes to Cash Flow Projections (Assumptions)  

                                                Annual Cash Flow Projections – Years Two and Three  

                                Financial Statements  

                                                Projected Income Statement  

                                                Balance Sheet  

                                                Statement of Owner’s Equity  

                                Additional Financial Information  

                                                Summary of Financial Needs  

                                                Existing Debt  

                                                Personal Financial Statement  

                Appendix Section  

                                Action Log  

                                Supporting Documents (Resumes, Research Citations, etc.)

 

Executive Summary  

A business plan starts with an executive summary, which is a one or two page summary of your business plan, or an introduction to your business.  Although this section is at the beginning of the business plan, it is the last thing to be written.  You’ll be able to condense your business plan more succinctly once you have the opportunity to work through the other parts of the plan.  The executive summary may be the only thing a potential investor or financier will read, so write it last because it has to be the most compelling.  

Start by writing a description of your business, including what stage of development it is currently in (conception, start-up, first year, mature, exit) and your plans for growth.  Discuss the nature of your business, the main products and services you offer, the market for your products and services, and how and by whom the business is operated.  

 

Mission Statement  

Then work on your mission statement.  Here is where you concisely state the focus, scope and hope of your business (or values, vision, philosophy, and purpose).  What is the customer pain you are soothing, the need you fulfill?  Here’s an example from Coca-Cola: 

“Our Roadmap starts with our mission, which is enduring. It declares our purpose as a company and serves as the standard against which we weigh our actions and decisions.  

To refresh the world… To inspire moments of optimism and happiness… To create value and make a difference.”

 

PepsiCo has a different take:   

“Our mission is to be the world’s premier consumer products company focused on convenient foods and beverages. We seek to produce financial rewards to investors as we provide opportunities for growth and enrichment to our employees, our business partners and the communities in which we operate. And in everything we do, we strive for honesty, fairness and integrity.”  

This is the mission statement of Inspiration Software®, Inc.:  

“Our company strives to support improvements in education and business and to make a positive difference in our users’ lives by providing software tools that help people of all ages use visual thinking and visual learning to achieve academic, professional and personal goals.”  

 

Goals and Objectives  

Next, outline your company goals and objectives, including long-term and short-term goals.  You will get into more detail on how the goals will be accomplished in your operational plan and annual work plan, so focus on brevity at this stage.  There is a difference between goals and objectives and it’s important to know what that is.  I like how Andrew Smith explains it in The Business Plan Blog.  Objectives are non-emotional, precise descriptions of what is needed to achieve a goal.  Goals can involve emotion and don’t have to be as specific as objectives.  Objectives are the steps to actualizing the goal.  Here’s an example:  

Goal:  

                To have positive cash flow by the end of the year.  

Objectives:  

                Increase sales by 50%.  

                Offer customers a 1% discount for paying invoices within 10 days.  

                Increase efforts to collect on accounts receivable before invoices have aged 60 days.  

Of course, you will need a plan of strategies in order to accomplish each objective, but those details will be expounded upon in your annual work plan.  A list of three short-term and three long-term goals, along with the objectives necessary to achieve them, is sufficient for most business plans.  Remember to replace the goals and objectives with new ones as you check them off your list.

 

Background Information  

The section that details the background information should start with identifying the industry your business is in.  Even if you are not a member or have no intention of becoming involved, you should list any trade associations within that industry; you never know when you made need those connections.  Find out what publications, magazines or journals are available to businesses in your industry.  Use these and other sources of business information to identify how past trends (economic, social, political) affected the industry, as well as any current or future trends that may have an impact.  

How does your business fit in the industry?  What is the history of your business, including who started it, what changes have occurred, when was it started, where was and is it located, how was it started and operated, and why it was started?  What barriers to entry, if any, have you recognized?  

   

Organizational Matters  

The ownership hierarchy of your business, the management structure, and the personnel are described in the section on organizational matters.  This part of the plan deals with who, what and how your business runs.  Who is in charge of what and how are they qualified?  Discuss how the various parts of your business interact together; include details about outside contractors and consultants and what functions they perform.  See the example below, thanks to Edraw Soft Vector-Based Graphic Design.  

The organizational section of the business plan also needs to include an explanation of your record keeping process, checks and balances, and control management systems.  Anyone who reads your business plan should be able to understand the organizational procedures for running your business day-to-day, as well as in an emergency situation.  

The risk management plan needs to be fleshed out in the organizational section as well, including your risk strategy, the different types of insurance required, your contingency plans, and problem-solving protocols.  What will you do if a natural disaster ruins part of your inventory?  How will you handle the sudden illness or long-term absence of a key manager?  What happens if you are unable to finish a project on schedule?  What are some early warning signs to watch for?  

It may not be pleasant to imagine all the “what ifs,” but doing it now and planning for those unexpected events will improve your company’s chances of surviving a storm.  For an excellent step-by-step guide on the details of developing a risk management plan, see the article “How to Develop a Risk Management Plan,” by Charles Tremper at wikiHow.com.  

   

Marketing Plan  

The next section, themarketing plan, gets into the details of what your business offers and what market it serves.  Marketing is the communication of how your products and services “ease customer pain.”  Show the problem and how your business solves it.  Marketing is a necessity for every business because once your doors are open, you must invite customers to come in.  Everything you do in your business that affects customers is marketing because it sends a message about your company.  

This part of the plan details the features and benefits of your products and services, their seasonality and life cycle, as well as any future products and services you are planning.  It also includes a thorough market analysis, in which you will study your customers, your competition and the market itself.  Here you should include a PEST analysis, in which you will consider the impact of various factors upon your business.  The factors include combinations of the following, depending upon your business:  social, technological, economic, environmental, political, legal, ethical, and demographic.  

Studying your market will give you insight as to how you can make your business more appealing to people.  Market research is more than just noticing trends in your customers’ buying habits; it’s discovering what motivates your customer to buy.  Don’t assume that you already know because you’ve been in this business for years.  This study often unearths characteristics about your market that are hidden or new.  It’s best to discover these things before your competition.  

Another key element to the marketing section of your business plan is an outline of your marketing objectives, strategies, and tactics.  Writing down the avenues you travel in order to market your business will afford you the opportunity to record what worked and what didn’t work.  You must be able to measure and calculate the results of your marketing efforts, otherwise, what’s the point?  If you don’t know if something is working for or against you, then it’s working against you.  

Include details about all of the following that are applicable to your business in the marketing section of your plan: location and distribution, and promotional strategies, such as packaging, public relations, advertising, and customer service.  As a result of exploring these areas, you will naturally need to consider how much you will budget for your marketing efforts.  This question is closely connected to your sales forecast, which leads us into the next section of the business plan.  

  

Financial Plan  

The financial plan consists of four sections: Financial Worksheets, Cash Flow Projections, Financial Statements, and Additional Financial Information.  All of these components will tell the story of how you plan to start or grow your business from a financial perspective.  It is vital that you explain the assumptions under which you have based your projections, for example, “We assume that there are no unforeseen changes in economic policy to make our products and service immediately obsolete.” or “We assume interest rates will stay the same over the next three years.” (both quotes from Bplans.com sample business plans)  

I suggest that you construct easy to read tables and graphs for the financial portion of the plan.  The worksheets suggested are: Salaries/Wages and Benefits, Outside Services, Insurance, Advertising Budget, Occupancy Expense, Sales Forecasts, Cost of Projected Product Units, Fixed Assets, Growth (or Start-Up) Expenses, and Miscellaneous Expenses.  You may find some of the worksheet templates at PlanWare.org to be useful.  

The expected revenues and expenses for at least a year should be projected in the cash flow section of the Financial Plan.  It’s better to make conservative predictions rather than be too optimistic when it comes to cash flows.  As part of this section, a break-even analysis is essential.  This is the “amount of units sold or sales dollars necessary to recover all expenses associated with generating these sales.” (NxLevel for Entrepreneurs, 2005)  The formula for calculating the break-even quantity is Total Fixed Costs/(Price – Average Variable Costs).  

The financial statements section should show the way things are now if you have an existing business, as well as a forward look at your checking account, or projected income statement.  The only way a start-up company can provide an income statement and balance sheet is by projecting these figures based upon well defined assumptions.  Both start-ups and existing businesses should include a statement of owner’s equity.  

An income statement shows revenues minus expenses, in order to calculate net income or net loss.  Start-ups should project these expected results for the first twelve months of business, then quarterly for the next two years.  A list of a company’s assets (what you own), liabilities (what you owe), and net worth (assets minus liabilities) is called a balance sheet.  The statement of owner’s equity shows the owner’s initial investment, additional investments, and retained earnings, minus owner withdrawals.  

The additional financial information at the end of this part of the plan should give a summary of your business’s financial needs in order to grow, show its debt position, and state the owner’s financial status.  

   

Appendix  

In the appendix, which is the final section, an action plan or timeline for implementing the business plan should be presented.  This is where the detailed goals and objectives are expanded in a work plan.  Also, include in this section any additional information or supporting documents that are relevant to your business plan, such as important research, marketing materials, product specifications, and owner and employee résumés.  

   

Executive Summary  

Now that you have written the hard part of your business plan, it’s time to write the fun part, the executive summary. As mentioned in the beginning of this white paper, this is the most important piece of the business plan because it illustrates the very essence of your business in a captivating and condensed form.  If you ever share your business plan with a potential investor or potential buyer, the executive summary may be the only thing that is read.   

Make the executive summary brief (no more than two pages), but make sure you showcase the best qualities of your business without glossing over important information; show why yours is a winning business.  Write one to three sentences about each of the following:  

General description of the business Mission statement Management structure Business operations Products/services, the market and your customer Your marketing plan, including the competition Financial projections and plans

 

A clear, concise, and convincing executive summary will intrigue your audience and inspire them to read the rest of your plan.  If the plan is never seen by anyone outside of your business, don’t assume it was a waste of time.  During the planning process, you will have worked through an enlightening exercise that prepares you to run and grow a better business.  

Having this written document available for frequent consultation and review will improve your chances of not only surviving, but coming out strong on the other side of this recession.  Most people think that knowing in the back of their mind what they plan to do is sufficient for survival or recovery, but the difference between a written plan and an idea is usually the difference between failure and success.  

   

   

 

It is easy and effective to plan well in small business. Planning doesn’t take a lot of effort, it shouldn’t take a lot of time, and the best part is: it’sfree. Use these 3 simple steps to get an advantage over the competition.

1. Mission and Objective

What is the overall purpose for your business? Your answer should be detailed, specific, meaningful and measurable. To say “make a lot of money” is not an objective. To say “consistently exploit advantage X to create Y amount of value by date Z” is better. A good objective will be realistic, but ambitious. It will focus your attention and push you to take reasonable risks. It specifically defines what “success” looks like. Although the world of small business is constantly changing, with new opportunities and new threats all the time, your mission should provide a solid, consistent framework. Within that framework, you will plan, strategize, innovate and execute in a changing marketplace.

2. Strategy

How will you attain your objective? What fundamental rules or method will you use? That is your strategy. Strategy is a long term approach that underlies all of your short term actions, in the service of your objective or mission. A good strategy, like a good objective, will be detailed. It should be detailed enough to provide answers to a variety of important questions that you will encounter. But it should be general enough to only change occasionally. What major tools, methodology or resources will help to achieve your goal? What kinds of advantages, characteristics or unique qualities will allow you to stand out from the competition? These kinds of questions will help you develop a strong strategy.

3. Tactics

Tactics are the short term, day-to-day and week-to-week measures taken to support the strategy. Good tactical decisions allow you to compete more effectively. Tactics are inspired by two types of sources–internal and external. Internally-inspired tactics come from new initiatives and new projects that you think will help to further success. Externally-derived tactics are responses to short term changes in the marketplace, in the overall economy, feedback from customers or new moves by competitors. Success requires flexibility. Flexibility is what good tactical decisions are all about. By staying flexible and responsive to both internal and external developments, small businesses can find success consistently.

Small business planning – no excuses, you need to write it down! Before you condemn me and say “he’s dead wrong”, let me share what I have seen. There are two schools of though about starting a business – one is “Jump In” and the other is “What If”. Both sides have strong reasons to uphold their opinions but in the end they want the same thing – success – they just take different paths to get there.

Two Schools of Thought

The “Jump In” crowd say that one of the simplest things that prevents getting started is ‘paralysis by analysis’. This concept is that you can dwell over your idea and the details behind it for such a long time that by the time you tell yourself you’re ready, you’re actually too late because the market has changed, and you have spent so much time and money trying to get to that point. The idea to prevent this paralysis is to just do it – just start the business, start acquiring customers, start delivering your product or service, deal with the problems and you will learn the your business by doing.

The entrepreneurs whom I’ve dubbed the “What If” are the people who understand that mistakes are costly. Some mistakes are burdensome when you’re bootstrapping the entire operation, others can be so detrimental to the business that they could break it. To prevent these errors, these people want to know what they are getting into and they take the time to look at the market, to look at the future customers, make sure that the basic financial equation [ Revenue (-) Costs = Hey, I can make money off of this(!) ] still holds.

Why You Need One

So you have an awesome idea, right? Great, now all you have to do is go out and do it! Well, that’s the same thing as being 14 and saying that you have an awesome idea to start driving and you’re going to do it. You can get behind the wheel of the car, you can get the engine running, you know about the gas pedal – I mean you’ve seen everyone else do it, so you pull out on the street and 2 minutes later you’re looking at a wrecked car. Sure, you’re still alive and the car cost k, but don’t you think you should at least ask about the rules of the road?

Here is why I say you NEED a business plan. No matter how well you think you know what you’re doing, you just haven’t thought it all the way through. A business plan does not have to be elaborate, does not have to be a 40 page color document, it doesn’t even have to be a quick 10 pager, I’m saying that if you can “write” it in your head then even that is great. A business plan is taking the time to ask yourself the basic questions about your new operation and coming up with the answers. The answers make up the plan:

1. Executive Summary – what is the nature of your business

2. Product/Service Description – what are you selling

3. Market Analysis – who is buying

4. Management Team – who is helping you

5. Operations Strategy – how will you deliver

6. Financial Plan and Projections – how much money can you make

Different Types

So, why is there so much talk about putting a business plan together and one being better than another? Well a business plan not only allows you to gather your thoughts about your new business, it also serves as a resume to partners and investors. Different levels of investors require different levels of analysis and insight. A financial institution such as a bank may want to see some specifics about sound financial operations; do you know what they want to see? Looking at thousands of business plans is the job of Angel Investors and Venture Capitalist and they may want to know the precise assessment of your customer base; do you know how to calculate it?

There are several ways you can put a plan together and each type of solution comes with its own price tag and those range from free to ,000. You can look online and see a similar six-part summary that I wrote above (free), you can buy software that walks you through the different parts (about 0), or you can hire an expert or a consultant to write the plan for you..

It costs How Much?

Here is what you should know about the typical three types of business plans that a business plan professional can create charging per page or per hour. A Level 1 Business plan is about 10 pages, costs between 0 and ,500 and is used to secure a bank loan. A Level 2 plan is from 20 to 30 pages, costs from ,500 to ,000 and is intended to capture an angel investor for an investment of up to M. The third level of business plan is intended to secure venture capital in the multi-million dollar range and can be from ,000 to ,000. If you think that ,000 is a lot, you’re correct, but keep in mind that some plans have been written for up to 0,000…but they were used to secure tens of millions of dollars.

There should be no doubt in your head about whether you should have a business plan – if you are staring a new business you need one! Make the right decision of how you will write your business plan, who will write it, how much time and money you will spend on the process and for what outcome you are writing it.

Here is to you making it into the small percentage of successful startups!

1. Connect your aspirations to the country’s offerings

What do rankings of the Business schools abroad mean to you? A means of short listing a Business school abroad, right? Rankings primarily aid in selecting the top Business school. After the MBA programme abroad, you it is very likely that you might settle down in a particular country abroad and not in the Business school abroad. Therefore, it is a prudent act to choose a particular country abroad to settle down in and then use the rankings to choose the right Business school abroad. An MBA in a top Business school abroad should finally be the means to an end – a successful, rewarding career and stable settlement in the country where you have built your network! After the completion of your MBA abroad, the country should continue to appeal to you. Here is a quick checklist on evaluating the abroad country’s offerings

Immigration rules of the country abroad

An MBA degree from a Business school abroad will ensure you good job prospects and help you settle abroad. But a word of caution in this case – Immigration rules for foreign nationals vary from place to place. Only the United States, the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia make it possible for foreign nationals to gradually settle down permanently.

Economic and Political conditions of the country abroad

A booming economy would always have jobs in abundance. Stable political conditions give a sense of security.

Occupation prospects in the country abroad

Since every country abroad doesn’t have the same economic growth levels, the opportunities vary. The occupation you are interested in, necessarily wouldn’t be flourishing in the chosen country abroad. For example, construction engineers are for more in demand in Canada than in the US.

Environment of the country abroad

Choosing to do an MBA abroad gives you the chance to spend one to two years in a new country. Further, you can only settle, if you are able to adjust to the new atmosphere abroad. Geographic locations, Climatic conditions, ease of communication and social-cultural environment (a broad minded culture with a focus on diversity) influence the comfort while staying abroad

Type of M.B.A offered abroad

Classes in MBA abroad tend to have a more diverse population in terms of nationalities, backgrounds (educational and professional), genders, etc, which enhances the quality of the environment and the learning. MBA courses in Business schools abroad tend to have a more global coverage of topics in their syllabus. Top MBA schools abroad also offer variety within their programs, giving experienced students the opportunity to enroll in an Executive MBA program, a fast-track MBA program, or special concentrations within a traditional MBA program. In a top MBA Business school abroad, the chance to specialize in a certain business area — like accounting, international business, or marketing — can help you find a specific job. General MBA programs in Business schools abroad may not be that helpful.

Financials to be invested in the Business School abroad

You may start with the assumption that a scholarship might not be immediately possible. Then, look at the resources at your disposal. Procedures, availability, and types of funding for foreign students at Business schools abroad vary tremendously. Consider whether or not you would financially be able to support yourself abroad in that chosen country. While studying for an MBA in a foreign country; you also need to factor in insurance, transportation expenses and restricted employment options. The exchange rates play a crucial role in determining your financial conditions while pursuing your MBA in a business school abroad and your earnings after settling down.

Long term Perspective of the Business School abroad

Many a times Business schools abroad have local or country-specific fame only. Hence, choose a Business school abroad with a possibility of settling out there.

An experience abroad in a top Business school is one that will stay with you for life. Then why invest in a wrong place abroad? While an MBA abroad will open you to a new canvass of opportunities, make sure that these opportunities give you a new lease of professional and personal life too.